Companies working day and night to provide health supplies overseas

Facing the global health crisis, companies in Beijing's Zhongguancun high-tech business hub are joining in the fight by supplying protection, prevention and treatment equipment to those in need.

Among them is Beijing Aeonmed, an anesthesia and respiratory medical equipment provider.

After honoring orders totaling more than 2,000 ventilators for COVID-19 treatment in China, the company delivered hundreds of such medical machines to foreign users by late March. They included those in Russia, Mongolia, Italy and Serbia, Beijing Evening News reported.

Thousands more overseas orders are scheduled for delivery, according to the company.

One of the top five Chinese ventilator brands－according to a report by market research consultancy Wismar－Aeonmed's products have been widely used on the front line in the combat against the epidemic.

These include its signature ventilator that features state-of-the-art turbine technology and an optimal combination of invasive and non-invasive ventilation.

At its plants, workers are assembling and packing ventilators in shifts, and machines are running day and night in a race against time.

While the company was beefing up production, it encountered challenges including a shortage of supplies from its upstream businesses, prolonged import of crucial components and a malfunctioning logistics network, the newspaper quoted a company executive as saying.

Learning about the company's needs, the local government offered a helping hand, coordinating the business resumption of nearly 50 upstream suppliers and the customs clearance of its imported turbines and sensors.

Aeonmed has also been put on a list of key companies involved in COVID-19 prevention and control. They are given priority in receiving government support and banking loans.

On March 19, the Beijing Medical Products Administration streamlined its procedures to reduce the period in issuing an export certificate from seven working days to one. The document is required for drug and medical equipment to be exported abroad.

The change has accelerated deliveries of China-made medical supplies to overseas hospitals.

Shukun Technology, an artificial intelligence company in Zhongguancun, donated two AI-assisted diagnosis systems to the Iranian embassy in China on April 1, Economic Daily reported.

At the donation ceremony, the company announced that it would provide technological support and aid Iranian doctors in their identification and treatment of virus-infected patients.

According to the company, its AI systems were applied to the treatment of the disease at hospitals in Beijing and Wuhan, the hardest-hit city of the outbreak in the country.

"Shukun is keeping a close watch on COVID-19 development worldwide," said Ma Chun'e, CEO of the company.

"China received help from abroad in its prevention and control of the epidemic and accelerated valuable experience in coping with the disease earlier this year," Ma said. "Now it is Chinese medical companies' turn to repay the favor to the world."

"We will bring our technological expertise to Iran, helping locals fight the pandemic, and contribute to safeguarding the health of the world with our strengths in new technologies," she added.

Another active participant in the overseas fight against the virus is Beijing Applied Biological Technologies, also known as XABT.

The company based in Zhongguancun donated nucleic acid test kits to the embassies of Italy, Iran, Malaysia, Thailand and Bangladesh in China during March and April, according to its website.

Other donators in Zhongguancun included electronics manufacturer Xiaomi and visual media products manufacturer Leyard, according to the area's administrative committee.

Six companies at Zhongguancun have been approved by the National Medical Products Administration to put their test kits on the market. Many of these have gained CE certification, a safety requirement for entering the European Union market, according to Beijing Daily.

To meet the growing overseas demand, the Zhongguancun authorities have selected 18 local medical equipment companies for priority promotion. Thirty-three of their products have gained CE certification and 30 have been marketed or sold in international markets, covering Asia, Europe, Africa and Latin America, the Beijing Daily reported.